The Congress on Tuesday sided with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and told the Rashtriya Janata Dal it can walk out of the state government if it is not comfortable with the three-way alliance, reported The Hindu. The national party's words came after some RJD leaders made snide remarks about Kumar, the chief of the Janata Dal(United).

Bihar Congress chief and state minister Ashok Choudhary said, "You say there is rock solid unity in the coalition and yet your leaders pass snide comments on the mukhiya [chief] of the coalition government." Choudhary also criticised the JD(U) for a press conference in which it retaliated against the RJD. "Such things create confusion among the grassroots workers of the coalition," the Congress leader said.

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Local don and former RJD legislator Mohammad Shahabuddin had sparked a controversy on Saturday, upon his release from jail, when he said party chief Lalu Prasad was "the tallest leader". Shahabuddin has added that Kumar became the chief minister “only because of circumstances”. RJD vice president Raghubansh Prasad Singh had supported Shahabuddin's statement.

On Tuesday, Lalu Prasad held a press conference to do damage control, and said the controversy was actually created by the media. He said he will speak to his party leaders and instruct them not to make any unnecessary remarks about the coalition. However, he appeared to back Shahabuddin, saying, "He is a member of the RJD, so what is wrong if he says I am his leader?"

About Shahbuddin's remark that Kumar was not a mass leader, Prasad said, "No one becomes a mass leader based on someone’s comment in favour or against it." When reporters asked him whether he believed that Kumar indeed got the top post because of circumstances, he said, "Don't irritate me."

The JD(U), RJD, and the Congress joined hands before the Bihar Assembly elections to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party from winning the polls. The coalition won with a huge margin and formed the government with Kumar as its chief minister in November 2015.